


On Your Left (Hand)

by elfiepike



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Arranged Marriage, M/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 07:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1932885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfiepike/pseuds/elfiepike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world was different when Steve woke up from the ice. For one thing, apparently everyone's married now?</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Your Left (Hand)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kinoface](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinoface/gifts).



> UH SO maybe that "alternate universe" tag can also be for handwaving away various legal procedures? Yes, let's go with that. Thanks for [ltgmars](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ltgmars) for the beta reading!!

Agent Hill laid out the facts as plainly as possible: "A lot's changed in the last seventy years, Captain Rogers. Society finds an unmarried adult of your age to be unapproachable as a public figure, and SHIELD could really use an approachable public figure right now."

The band of gold on her own hand glinted almost ominously; Steve has swapped stories about the most ridiculous ops they'd ever had for a solid hour with Agent May once during a briefing that was delayed by increasingly bizarre technical difficulties before Agent Hill had found them, kissed Agent May on the mouth, and told Steve that Fury had to see him.

"I appreciate that, Agent Hill, but I'm not really the--marrying type."

Agent Hill obviously knew that to be the avoidance tactic it was and didn't even justify it with a response, pushing a slim folder across her desk to him. "Just fill out the spaces marked with arrows, Steve, and the agency we're working with will find someone for you."

He opened the folder--you couldn't really refuse Agent Hill--and flipped through the packet. Ninety percent of the packet was prefilled for him.

"Think of this as a chance to meet new people. The agency is very good at finding what people like."

Steve looked up from the paperwork and tilted an eyebrow at her. "What I'd like is to not be forced into this farce, Agent Hill."

"Try taking it seriously, then," she suggested, and with that he was dismissed.

-

Between taking down a corrupt government agency and trying to find Bucky again, Steve hadn't forgotten about Maria's threat so much as assumed it no longer mattered. Why would it be important for Steve--for Captain America, that is--to be an approachable public figure for SHIELD if there wasn't a SHIELD anymore in the first place?

He should have known better: Maria never forgot anything. The email notification popped up as he and Sam were leaving the cemetery, confirming that despite Steve never filling out anything, Maria had filed the paperwork for him, and now he had an appointment at City Hall for the following afternoon.

"From all that sighing over there, I might think you were having some second thoughts about our upcoming roadtrip," Sam said, glancing at Steve for just a second before getting his eyes back on the road. Steve looked out the window; he'd already committed Sam's profile to memory.

"It's just a--a small delay, that's all." Steve considered and then dismissed the idea of just not showing up. Somehow Maria would know, and then Natasha would know, and then Natasha and possibly Tony Stark (married now for two and a half solid months and completely reveling in saying things like, "Let me check in with my _wife_ , CEO of Stark Industries Pepper Potts, did you know she married _me_ ," which Steve had witnessed him doing on national television right after a terrorism threat, derailing the conversation until no one even thought to ask him about the millions of dollars of damage) would find him and Sam and probably make them give up looking for Bucky entirely until Steve was properly hitched.

"Uh-huh," Sam said, clearly casting aspersions on how Steve defined both _small_ and _delay_ , but in a way that Steve knew meant that Sam would still support him, whatever that meant.

He'd known Sam for such a short time--a few days to take down SHIELD, a few more days to recoup in the hospital after his fall--and he felt like he never wanted to leave his side. Steve would have to figure out how to make it work, this marriage scam of Maria's, and finding Bucky, and somehow keeping Sam in his life, too. Then he'd worry about being Captain America.

Heck, maybe by the time he'd figured out the rest of it, somebody else could be Captain America.

But that was planning a little far in advance.

"I have to go to City Hall tomorrow afternoon," Steve confessed, shrugging to try and hide his actual concerns with the endeavor.

"Oh _really_ ," Sam said. When Steve looked over, his eyebrow was slanted up at the end, his mouth pursed with the corners tilted up, like he'd just figured out the punchline to a joke.

"I mean, it might be--I'm not sure how long of a delay it will actually be, but I'm sure it won't keep us from--" _our mission_ "--other plans for long. I'll make sure of it."

They slowed to a stop at a red light, and Sam gave Steve his full attention. "I know you will," he said, serious for a moment before that smile started to take over the corners of his mouth again and Steve had to look away. "I can keep myself occupied for the afternoon."

-

Steve wasn't sure what he was supposed to wear to his arranged marriage at City Hall, especially considering he was still living at Sam's house and he didn't care to go back to the wreck of his apartment. ("It's cleaned up a lot now," Sharon reported to him once, when she visited him at the hospital. He'd assured her it was okay--he'd never really cared about it either way. It had just been somewhere to stay until, well, until Bucky had shown up again.)

Still: he bought a nice button down shirt and a jacket from a shop a few blocks away from City Hall, and had his shoes shined. He was only getting married once, after all. And if he was especially lucky, his soon-to-be spouse would be understanding about the whole thing and maybe they could get to know each other as pen pals for a little while, until Steve and Sam found Bucky and brought him home.

That still felt like thinking too far ahead.

-

Natasha was waiting on the steps of City Hall when he got there. "You _did_ show up," she said, satisfied as if she'd won a bet.

"So did you," he replied, allowing himself to just feel happy to see her and nothing else. They walked up together and he held open the door for her. "Did you figure out who you want to be for yourself?"

"I'm still working on it. Clint's already assured me that our relationship only needs one house-spouse and he's already claimed it."

Steve laughed; that sounded about right.

They checked in at the front desk and Natasha downloaded an app onto Steve's phone that changed the background into a different puppy photograph every time he unlocked it. They both firmly ignored the stares from the few other people waiting for appointments. Conversation had gone from "places you'd like to return when people aren't trying to kill you there" through "favorite food available in portable form" and onto hairstyling tips and tricks by the time Steve's name was called.

He couldn't help himself: he swallowed nervously, just the once. Natasha smiled at him. "It'll be fine," she said.

"Right, of course." He squared his shoulders, and followed the directions down the hall and into a tiny office.

Sam was already there, standing in front of the desk and grinning at Steve like--like he'd been waiting all day just to see this. "Took you long enough," he said.

"But--" What were words? How did they work? Steve stumbled further into the room and all the way to Sam's right, mostly at Natasha's nudging. "But Riley?"

Sam's smile turned soft and warm. He pulled his dog tags out from under his shirt, and there it was: Riley's tags next to his own, and the ring he'd been wearing since Steve met him. "Riley will always be important to me, but he wouldn't have wanted me to live with just his memory to keep me company. Plus I know this guy, goes by Captain America, is basically allergic to asking for help? I want to have that guy's six, you know," Sam's grin was just so _fond_ , "till death do us part and all that."

Just by Sam being here, and being Sam, Steve felt like he stood on solid ground again. He could barely even consider what this would actually mean for his future, this guarantee of Sam by his side. "Allergic to asking, hunh."

Sam laughed. "I was considering waiting for a proposal, but I have met you. And if this--" Sam gestured expansively to include the whole scenario: him and Steve, Natasha and the Justice, perhaps marriage in general, "--will keep scary Agent Hill off our backs--"

Steve caught his hand. "Will you marry me?"

Sam stopped his diatribe, gentle again; he turned their hands until their fingers were intertwined and squeezed, just the once. "You know what? I think I will."

The woman behind the desk--the Justice of the Peace--smiled at them, clearly briefed beforehand on what to expect. "Would you care to say your vows and sign some paperwork now, gentlemen?"

They cared, and they did, and when Steve said _I do_ (Natasha producing rings from her bag that of course were already fitted) and finally got to do what he'd been very carefully not thinking about and kiss Sam, a weight lifted from his shoulders that was so huge it felt like he could float away, like that same exhilaration of falling when you know there's someone to catch you.

They parted slowly, Sam's eyes twinkling and Steve completely unsure about what happened next but for once looking forward to finding out. "Hey Mr. Wilson," Sam said, "check it out."

"What am I looking at, Mr. Rogers?" Steve asked, sure he was blushing like crazy.

Sam leaned in close again. "On your left," he said, just for Steve.

Natasha, politely pretending she was on her phone and not paying the closest possible attention to every detail of the romance unfolding in front of her, hummed thoughtfully. "I hate to break up the lovefest," she started.

"But you will," Sam said, pulling back a bit. He clearly was already used to how it was going to be; Steve gave himself a moment to feel sorry that he couldn't give Sam a normal life, but it wasn't like Sam's life had been especially normal before.

"But I will: a man with a metal arm was spotted on the rooftop about two blocks northwest of here."

They all looked out the northwest-facing windows, the Justice included. "You mean that--person from the news reports a few weeks ago?" she asked.

"Hey Sam, did you have any specific honeymoon plans?"

"Eh," Sam said, already going around the desk to check if the windows opened, nodding with satisfaction when they did. "You know, I was thinking about candles and flower petals, but on second thought a high-speed chase sounds more fitting."

Natasha was still on her phone, a hologram of the city grid popping out above it. "It's not quite rush hour, so he'll be able to move fast."

"I'm pretty sure between the three of us we can move faster," Sam said. He'd had his wings on already, brand new and fitted only days before.

"Sorry for this," Steve told the Justice.

"It's fine," she said. "I'll file the paperwork for you just this once, Captain Rogers."

"Thanks," he said, and they were off.


End file.
